4 ms·
It has a proprietary license[0]. That makes it a non-starter. Too bad: it looks nifty! > The software is licensed, not sold. Microsoft reserves all other right
by kstrauser 1y ago
It has a proprietary license[0]. That makes it a non-starter. Too bad: it looks nifty!
> The software is licensed, not sold. Microsoft reserves all other rights. Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you will not (and have no right to):[…] d) use the software for commercial, non-profit, or revenue-generating activities
Oops. Better not install this on your work laptop!
[0] https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items/ms-ossdata.vscode-pgsql/license https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items/ms-ossdata.vscode...
- jasonthorsness 1y agoI worry that with the threat of Cursor this will be more common now. Microsoft's business interest will prevent them from funding development work that directly benefit the popular forks (for years they probably assumed no fork could ever gain traction...).
- krferriter 1y agoCan't use it for commercial, non-profit, or revenue-generating activities? Uh, this actually seems insane to me? What is it for then?
- kstrauser 1y agoMy initial reaction is "entrapment". Edit: That's uncharitable of me. I strongly doubt that's the plan. But it genuinely was the first thing that came to mind.
- ParetoOptimal 1y agoA more than justified reaction with Microsoft.
- jasonthorsness 1y agoI'm sure these restrictions will lift once it's out of preview. They have a huge Postgres hosting business in Azure that couldn't benefit from this if it's restricted to non-commercial.
- 85392_school 1y ago> PRE-RELEASE SOFTWARE. The software is a pre-release version. It may not operate correctly. It may be different from the commercially released version.
- jkaplowitz 1y agoI assume that restriction is due to the public preview status. But yeah MS really ought to at least allow businesses to evaluate it for potential subsequent use after preview.
- dragonwriter 1y ago> Can't use it for commercial, non-profit, or revenue-generating activities? Uh, this actually seems insane to me? What is it for then? Its a public preview, for which Microsoft probably does not wish to accept non-disclaimable liabilities for defects when used in those circumstances. It is for previewing. By people who are interested in what is in the pipeline for a more general release.
- SahAssar 1y ago> non-disclaimable liabilities So you are saying that MIT/ISC/GPL/Apache2 and all the other OSS licenses do open you up to liabilites?
- dragonwriter 1y agoI am saying being a merchant in the field of software and supply software opens you up to liabilities, and saying “Not my responsibility” does not, in most jurisdictions, actially completely shield you from all of them, correct. This may also, to a lesser extent, be true of people who are not merchants in the field of the product supplied. It’s not the license creating the liability, in either case.
- SahAssar 1y agoSo you are saying that the parts of for example MIT or similar licenses that in clear terms say: "THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE." do not constitute something that frees you from those liabilities? Cause if so I think basically most of open-source would just shut down tomorrow.
- kstrauser 1y ago
- pier25 1y agoProbably a copypasta mistake? Why would they spend money into this extension if 99% of developers can't use it?
- kstrauser 1y agoMaybe, but darned if I'm going to be the one to take the legal risk of installing it.
- Rastonbury 1y agoI'm willing to put good money that MS is not going to sue anyone for using this
- kstrauser 1y agoI am extremely doubtful that they would. And yet, using it under that license is taking the legal risk that they'll act kindly even though they have the right, under the license, to be jerks about it. Is MS going to be a jerk about it? Almost certainly not. Could they if they wanted to? Sure seems like it.
- atmosx 1y agoBecause most people will use it without reading the license, giving them the upper hand when they might needed it? Might sound a but harsh, but we're talking about Microsoft.
- johnfn 1y agoIs there a single example of MS doing something like this in the last 10 years?
- adhamsalama 1y agoVS Code forks like Cursor that use their extensions?
- mixmastamyk 1y ago[flagged]
- lossyrob 1y agoDev on the project here - I'll mention that this language is due to corporate boilerplate public preview licensing. It is absolutely available and encouraged for use in commercial etc. activities. The licensing language needs to be fixed.
- lolinder 1y ago[flagged]
- franktankbank 1y ago[flagged]
- dang 1y ago"Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, bots, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0&query=by:dang%20astroturf https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
- franktankbank 1y agoHuh, I'm not sure I said anything like the above.
- dang 1y agoIt's in the same general space, no? If it helps at all, there's also this: "Assume good faith" - https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- 1y ago
- ldjkfkdsjnv 1y agodoes anyone actually think like this?
- kstrauser 1y agoAnyone who works in risk management and/or threat modeling for a living does.
- ldjkfkdsjnv 1y agothats such a small percentage of people
- kstrauser 1y agoThere aren't that many doctors, either, as a percentage of the population, but if they tell you not to eat paint, you might consider their opinion.
- ahartmetz 1y agoI go further than that and say screw Microsoft's partially open source stuff. Because VS Code isn't fully FOSS, which is a bit weird, isn't it.
- ParetoOptimal 1y agoAre you insinuating that the way the majority thinks is more correct and should be preferred?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- mixmastamyk 1y agoI notice your very important post, arguably the most important, has been buried under piles of fawning. Were you downvoted from a higher score?
- lossyrob 1y agoThe license has been updated to remove this restrictive language: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items/ms-ossdata.vscode-pgsql/license https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items/ms-ossdata.vscode...